Since the establishment of the Galerie Anita Beckers in 1995 the emphasis has been on promoting young artists. The media room in our basement allows us to accompany each regular show with a video or multi-media project. We have supported the artistic development right from the beginning of their careers of Bjørn Melhus, Sonja Braas, Yves Netzhammer and Ingrid Mwangi. Especially for the video artists we have enabled them to show their work in the necessary setting as well as having supported publications and productions. Today the emphasis is on young video art.
At PULSE New York we will present works by emerging as well as already well established artists. With the help of different media from photography to video, hand sewn paperworks and painting all of these artists use their media resources to lead the spectator beyond the physical surface of the object into an imaginery world. Well-known scenes and environments are altered into fictional sceneries unsettling the spectator’s perception.
Fairy tale-like portraits stare at the spectator in FLAVIA DA RIN’s digital photographies. Big heads and eyes fill almost all of the image space and just leave a small outlook on idyllic background scenes. The borderline between fiction and reality in this portraits is abolished and the spectator in invited to a world of imagination.
Flavia da Rin (born 1978 in Buenos Aires) has been selected for the exhibition “J’en rêve” at the Fondation Cartier by Hervés Chandés, director of the foundation.
In JULIA KÖRNER’s paintings, the figure plays an important role. They are figures that do not make it easy, even for the curious viewer, to penetrate the essence of the picture. (Hubert Schwartz) “I am interested in the moment of blur, which – just as the focusing on a segment of reality – is derived from photography. Blur should sentisize alone the viewer’s attention, because you can’t just call upon and then apply routine conclusions and ways of looking at things.” (Julia Körner)
Julia Körner (born 1976 in Heidelberg) is still studying at the Academy of Fine Arts Dresden, under Professor Ralf Kerbach. Her works are represented in the public collection of the federal state Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania.
In her latest series “Parts”, which we will present at PULSE, NIKKI S. LEE continues her exploration of identity and belonging by carefully staging dramatic narratives. She lets herself be portrayed accompanied by a man while constantly adopting new roles.
The second monograph of NIKKI S. LEE, “Parts”, with an essay by RoseLee Goldberg was published in October 2005 by Hatje Cantz. The artist is currently completing her first film and creating a new body of multimedia works. The LT | Shoreham Gallery, New York will show the exhibition “Nikki S. Lee, in production” which will open on March 8, 2006 (33 West 55 Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenue). Her works were further exhibited in her solo exhibition at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO in 2005.
In video art BJØRN MELHUS has developed a singular position, expanding the possibilities for the critical reception of cinema and television. His stories have narrative structures formed by the fragmentation of the levels of image and sound. His practice of fragmentation, destruction, and reconstitution of well-known figures, topics, and strategies of the mass media opens up not only a network of new interpretations and critical commentaries, but also defines the relationship of mass media and viewer anew. (Dr. Sabine Maria Schmidt, Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg)
A further retrospective has been devoted to Bjørn Melhus‘ (born 1966 in Kirchheim/Teck); work in 2005 includes Bjørn Melhus, Selected Works, Kyoto Art Center / Japan. His work is further successfully exhibited in the solo shows: Bjørn Melhus: Eastern Park Western Park, Honolulu Academy of Art / Hawaii; Bjørn Melhus, Viafarini, Milano / I; Bjørn Melhus, Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa, Palazzetto Tito Dorsoduro, Venice / I. Group shows in 2006: “Urban Creatures”, Pori Art Museum, Pori / Finland; “Satellite of Love”, Witte de With, Rotterdam / NL; “what makes you and I different”, Tramway 2/ Project Room, Glasgow / Scotland; “Das 8.Feld. Geschlechter, Leben und Begehren in der Kunst seit 1960”, Museum Ludwig, Cologne / D
YVES NETZHAMMER invents imaginary worlds in drawings and 3-D animation produced on the computer. He confronts us with a scenario in which strange events and mutations repeatedly lead man into states of being that seem to trigger new activity and modes of behaviour quite automatically.
New drawings by Yves Netzhammer (born 1970 in Schaffhausen) can be seen in the solo show: “Gefährdete Liebschaften. Illustrierte Liebesgedichte aus Indien / Endangered amours. Illustrated love poems from India” (and their drawn reflection by Yves Netzhammer)”, Museum Rietberg, Zurich / CH Arge, Galerie/Kunstraum, Bozen / CH. Group shows in 2006: “Flüchtiger Horizont /Absconding Horizon”, Kunstmuseum Solothurn / CH; “Satellite of Love”, Witte de With, Rotterdam / NL
In her work JULIA OSCHATZ, creates an interplay of painting, drawing, sculpture and video animation which demands a condensed perception. A creature with the head of an animal and the body of a human being appears in diverse natural scenarios, documented by Julia Oschatz in the diverse media. “This benign, somewhat clueless creature, named Wesen (the German word for being or essence) and played by Ms. Oschatz, evokes Art Spiegelman’s “Maus” and A. A. Milne’s Eeyore.” (Roberta Smith, New York Times)
Julia Oschatz (born 1970 in Darmstadt) has just successfully been exhibited at Leslie Tonkonow Artworks Projects in New York. The artist is preparing two solo shows in the Museum Wolfsburg and the Museum Alte Post in Muehlheim in Germany for 2006.
In her project – “A light night” – ANILA RUBIKU has joined two media and languages that are very different to each other yet at the same time, inter-dependent: needlework and artificial light. On the external surfaces of small lightened houses she has sewn scenes of the mostly traditional tasks carried out inside the houses and therewith bringing to the eye of the spectator private atmospheres.
Anila Rubiku (born 1970 in Durres) can be seen in the exhibition “Traveling Lights. There is nothing to lose”, Chelsea Art Museum, New York (Curated by Julia Draganovic). Anila Rubiku further has been chosen as only young artist from Italy for the biennial “Echigo – Tsumari” in July 2006 in Japan with a huge installation. The artist recently won the 2nd prize of the “Targetti Light Award” Sculpture section. The prize was given to the winners during the Bologna Art Fair at the end of January.
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